


Empty Corridors and Hidden Words

by trashulous



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: adrien is angsty, kind of sad, my poor son
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-08
Updated: 2015-12-08
Packaged: 2018-05-05 15:31:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5380406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trashulous/pseuds/trashulous
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adrien thinks about how it is never enough.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Empty Corridors and Hidden Words

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I haven’t written fanfiction in so long. So…I’m a little rusty…so if you have any constructive criticism or any strong opinions about this, please give it!! I could always afford to improve my writing.
> 
> This work can also be found on my fandom side blog on tumblr, where my username is the same as it is here.
> 
> Warning: lowkey depressing

Sometimes it just wasn’t enough.

He could be Adrien the model, wearing the most fashionable clothes of the season with fans all around, having his future be set for life in the fashion industry—or he could be Chat Noir in secret, dashing across rooftops, fighting the akuma-possessed villain of the week next to his lady, swarmed by grateful Parisians when the day was saved, but ultimately it wasn’t enough for him.

Model or superhero, Adrien or Chat Noir, none of that was reflected in the empty corridors of his house. Nothing he did changed his father’s icy demeanor and Nathalie’s steely professionalism. He could have arrived home back from getting a good grade on a test, back from a perfect photo shoot, back from saving lives, back from anything, it didn’t make a difference.

There was one day where he tried to explain it to Nino, try to say anything at all about it, but every time he made a move to say something—my dad, my house, my responsibilities, my secrets, my fucking sanity for God’s sake!—the words would lodge into his throat and collapse together, jumbled and unwilling to move.

Nino was his friend, but he didn’t think that he would understand. Nino with his family that cared too much and always gave Adrien extra food on his plate whenever he could manage to sneak over. Adrien didn’t know if someone could be possessed by an akuma more than once, but he wasn’t willing to risk it after what happened the last time Nino tried to intervene with Adrien’s home life.

So Adrien would attempt to speak and then bury the words deep inside of his heart, choosing instead to say something fencing or school related, and nothing would get resolved.

It would be easier if he just didn’t care so much, or if he just didn’t want.

His father was not a wanting man—obviously, order and silence and empty corridors were perfect for him.

Adrien had to disagree, but it wasn’t like there was anything he could do.

It got more unbearable as he grew up—his responsibilities doubled not only in school but at work and his father’s expectations grew on his shoulders. The house began to reflect his mind at times—empty and bleak, nothing there at all.

And then Plagg showed up—unexpectedly, of course, but not unwelcome.

It got easier, once he became Chat Noir. He could escape his mansion and climb onto the roofs of Paris, looking out at the city and seeing the skyline blur with buildings and color.

It got easier sometimes, but it still felt lacking, and that was the problem.

“Are you ok? You’ve been pretty silent,” a soft voice broke him out of his thoughts, making him remember that he reflecting on his own in his room, but was instead on a midnight patrol on a nameless building.

He looked next to Ladybug sitting beside him. His face was poised for a wink and his mouth was ready to spew whatever flirtatious pun of the hour, but he paused.

“I’m just thinking,” he said softly and seriously, surprising the both of them.

“Chat…” Ladybug began, and instantly he felt the walls build up, the same ones that would appear whenever he tried to tell Nino about the thoughts and feelings buried inside of him.

“Thinking about how to win your heart,” he said in an over-exaggerated flirtatious accent. The sudden coverup was quite lame, but Ladybug rolled her eyes at it anyway.

“You silly kitty,” she tried to banter, but her drowsy voice numbed the effect.

They sat there for a little while longer, tired but lost inside of their own thoughts.

The quiet of the night was disrupted by Chat’s miraculous beeping. He really didn’t want to leave his post and face his house, but he felt like if he stayed there any longer, dangerous things would spew out of his mouth and he wasn’t quite sure if he was prepared for that. He trusted Ladybug, he considered her one of his closest and best friends—not that there were very many competitors for the spot, save Nino—but he didn’t know how she would react, especially because of her insistence of keeping their secret identities secret. His thoughts, worries, and fears were quite personal and he didn’t want to burden her with that. So he stood up, stretching not unlike a cat, and looked down at the still sitting Ladybug.

“Well my lady, I meow-st be on my way,” he said, grinning at her reaction to his horrible pun.

He took off after her goodbye, jumping from roof to roof back to his house, just like he would do almost every night.

Occasionally when he jumped in midair, caught in-between two buildings, he wondered what it would be like to transform into Adrien fall, fall, fall down between buildings, down into the darkness and break, so that he wouldn’t have to worry about his thoughts and his words any longer.

**Author's Note:**

> This ended up a lil more depressing than I meant it to...my bad. D:
> 
> But thank you for reading!


End file.
